Home Truths
by drakin
Summary: Edward finds himself wanting to settle down after an accident in a hotel. EdxWin, probably mostly fluff. Please read and review. Chapter 3 now up.
1. Floored

**Well, this is my first fanfic, it's mainly going to by EdxWin. It's roughly based around the anime although don't mind me if I make referneces to the manga. Ed is 20-21, Alphonse 16-17 (Al is 4 years younger right?) Winry is 20-21 as well (I think). Now that's over and done with, please review.  
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**Chapter 1 – Floored**

"Alphonse!" Screamed Edward as he ran towards his sibling with a young girl draped over his shoulder. "Run!"

Alphonse did as he was asked, easily outpacing his older brother. "What's happening?"

"The buildings coming down!"

The two brothers ran through the corridors of this old hotel. The ground beneath it had subsided leaving the building on the verge of collapse. Edward and Al were nearby when men came through looking for volunteers to help evacuate it. Everyone else had gone; the three of them were the only ones left. Alphonse was the first out, but his hand caught on one of the supports holding the entrance up. Debris blocked the way and Edward only just managed to stop in time. He put down the unconscious child before clapping his hands together and resting them on the debris. A faint blue glow filled the room as a tunnel was formed through the wreckage. Al rushed through, handing the child to a man, presumably the child's father, before attempting to pick up Edward whom was already exhausted before his transmutation was now himself on the verge of collapse. But before either of them could react, the floor caved in, weakened by the reaction. The last thing Al remembered was hitting a hard stone floor.

Edward however landed in a body of water filled with small glowing plants. His automail arm and leg tried to drag him down, and they were doing a very good job of it. He flailed about helplessly for a moment until he realised the water was only as deep as he was tall. Plus, he was at the edge. He cursed his own stupidity as he hauled himself out of the water, muttering to himself. Suddenly, he noticed Alphonse laying a few meters away from the pool. His usually bright skin had taken a slightly grey tint even in the poor light available and when Edward checked, he could not find a pulse. It seemed that Alphonse Elric, alchemist and ex suit of armour had died. Edward screamed out in pain and grief. He'd spent four years of his life searching for the stone. So why did it have to end like this? He collapsed onto the floor sobbing, exhaustion getting the better of him.

He didn't know how long he was out for, but when he first woke, he was quickly struck back into unconsciousness by a volley of stones dislodged from the ceiling by an unknown force. Then after what seemed like an eternity, he awoke again, yet this time he could not move. Neither could he see properly, only ambiguous shapes and pastel colours. Nothing of any real use. But he could hear. He could here voices.

"So is this where we get the ore from?"

"Yes, well most of it"

"What's the metal called again?"

"Titanium"

"Cool. Hey, what's that over there?"

"Where?"

"There! And there's something else next to it"

Edward tried to shout and failed. It was hardly surprising, but he could barely move. He simply hadn't the energy.

"He's alive! Someone get an ambulance!"

"What about this guy?"

"Help me with these stones!"

Slowly, he could feel weight being lifted from his back and side. It was a welcome release. He tried to speak, but all he could manage was a whisper: "Thanks."

"Hey, this guy's awake!"

"Is that automail?"

"Well done idiot. Of course it is."

"How'd they get in here?"

"I dunno, but we'd better get them **both** out of here pretty soon or I don't think either of them will make it."

Suddenly he felt himself being picked up gently. One of the arms was rough, like parchment almost, but the other was smooth and hard. He'd recognise the feeling anywhere. Automail.

From then on, he was passed around before finding himself in an ambulance. The last thing Edward Elric felt was a sharp prick in his flesh and blood arm. A needle. Before he could protest, the sedatives had already kicked in. The already blurred world faded into darkness.

"Your going to be alright" intoned a voice. To Edward it seemed close, but just out of reach. He tried to open his eyes but they seemed to weigh more than he did. After what seemed like only a moment of trying, he succeeded, only to find himself in hospital.

"So you finally woke up" claimed the doctor, "you gave us quite the scare back there."

"How long have I been out?" demanded Edward impatiently, images of his mechanic filling his mind, most of them of her hitting him with wrenches. He shuddered.

"About a week, why?" asked the doctor, cocking his head slightly. "Oh yeah, your brother left a few days ago, he was fine."

Edward sighed. At least Alphonse was ok. But whether he would be when Winry got hold of him is another matter. He moaned.

""Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess. Just I promised a friend I'd be back in a week. I was supposed to be back last Tuesday." He started muttering. "Winry's gunna kill me."

"Who's Winry?"

"My automail mechanic."

"Well don't worry, you'll be out in no time, in the meantime, our resident mechanic will be happy to help you out." The doctor patted Edward on the shoulder as if he was about twelve and walked out the room. Edward hated people like that; people that are so happy that they get under you skin and sit right in the small of your back. Just where you can't get them. He also hated liars. It was another two weeks before he managed to get on the train. Winry was definitely going to kill him.


	2. Homecoming

**So, second chapter. Please read and review as usual. Thanks for reading this far. **

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**Chapter 2 - Homecoming**

Edward stood at the Resembool station as the train he had sat on for the last two days. It had been delayed, and then it broke down in some town that Ed was determined that it's only purpose was to prevent the large blank areas on the map. Then, just to add insult to injury, the replacement train was late. Ten minutes later he was stood at the door to the Rockabell household, automail fist held high. But before he could knock, the door opened before him.

"There you go, be sure to come back for your check-ups." Said Winry, oblivious to Edward's presence.

Edward move out of the way to let a woman with two automail legs pass. She was in a wheelchair being pushed by a man a few inches taller than Ed. Once they both passed, he inside the door frame just as Winry started to close it. He placed his flesh and blood hand on the door.

"Long time, no see" he stated calmly.

She rushed towards him, throwing her arms around him, almost throwing both of them off balance.

"When Al came round saying you were in hospital I got worried sick"

"Al's been here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing."

The two young adults broke apart and walked inside. Winry lead him into the workshop and sighed. "We might as well get this over and done with now." She sniggered.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, just I think this is the first time you've ever showed up for a check-up."

Edward blushed as he pulled off his trousers. "I think I've shown up for about two before."

"Oh yeah, the ones where you trashed it within a week!" shouted Winry as she pulled some tools out of a draw, laying them out on the side next to the bench.

"Well, that's true" admitted Edward, the embarrassment evident in his voice.

Both were silent for the next ten minutes as Winry examined his arm and leg. She reached for a screwdriver and unscrewed several screws alarmingly close to his crotch. Edward didn't even flinch. He was in a world of his own, or at least until she pulled his leg out of the socket.

"Hey?" exclaimed Edward. "What are you doing?"

"You've actually grown! You need a new leg."

"Oh, about that…"

"Ed?"

"The mechanic at the hospital messed with in whilst I was out."

"AND YOU LET HIM!" Screamed Winry.

"I didn't have much choice! I was out cold!"

She looked at the leg closer, turning it over and over, before putting it down on the side under the magnifying glass.

"Humph, well that not right." She muttered before turning to Ed. "I'm not gunna have to rebuild it after all."

She handed him the spare leg as he sighed in relief. Each time his leg was rebuilt, it meant he had to buy new trousers. Winry kept on changing the size of the casing. Once he had attached the leg and adjusted it to the right size, she held out a hand to help him up. He took it and pulled himself to standing height, looking into space and not noticing the small spill of oil right where he had put his foot. This, coupled with his handicapped right leg, made him lose his balance. In a last ditch attempt to keep himself upright, he grabbed at Winry's arm. But his weight suddenly added so far off her centre of gravity overbalanced both of them.

Tools rattled as they fell onto the floor, a part built foot fell out of its vice and a stock arm came unstuck from the wall as they landed hard on the floor. Winry landed on top, straddling Ed's stomach. Neither part said anything or moved for a while, only blushing until Edward finally spoke out, breaking the silence:

"Can you please move? As nice as this is, I'd like to get some trousers on?" he asked. Winry just blushed and got up, brushing down the overalls. Edward never saw why she did that. They had clearly seen better days, although not many, and were covered in all manner of oil stains, burn marks and the odd blood splatter. But they served their purpose.

They moved into the kitchen where Winry poured them both some coffee. Recently she had been living off the stuff. She had had two double amputees and one small child whose previous automail had broken in the past month. The hours were long but the money was good. Plus, she got the satisfaction that she was helping them get their lives back on track.

As they both sat down, they started talking, mostly just Ed telling Winry what had happened whilst he was in central. Even though most of it was just mundane stuff, apart from falling into an underground cavern, even though a few years ago, that would have been a normal days work. Then Ed just said:

"Win, there's something I need, no, want to tell you."

Winry suddenly sat up; it wasn't that Edward wanted to tell her something, it was that he was stuttering. "Either he fell on his head **really** hard or this is really important to him" she thought. Then she saw his eyes, they were as sharp as usual but behind the sharp determination, she could almost see the floodgates opening and a torrent of emotion. She had to stop herself from gasping. She hoped he was going to say what she though he was about to say.

"Win, I…" That was as far as he got before there were three sharp raps at the door. It sounded urgent. Both Edward and Winry got up from their seats and rushed to the door. Standing there was a young boy who couldn't be more than ten with an automail arm. It was hanging limp at his side. Behind him was his father.

"Winry, thank goodness you are in, Daniel's arm just went limp about an hour ago" said the father as he and his son were ushered into the workshop. The child then looked up at her as she placed his arm on the work surface.

"Please fix my arm Miss Rockabell."

"I'll do my best" smiled Winry.

"Even though she's done a full day's work and then some" though Ed ward, "she still fixes this kids arm."

She looked at all the gears and joints, tightening screws and at one point hitting a part of the casing with a hammer, causing nearly everyone to jump. But after a few moments of tinkering inside the now loose casing, she put it back, re-affixed it and sighed.

"Try moving your arm now" asked Winry.

To the child's amazement, his arm worked. "Thanks" he beamed. She led the child and his dad out the house, refusing to take payment in any form. Once they were out the door, both Edward and Winry sat down at the table with their cold coffees. But two quick transmutations later and it was almost as if nothing had happened.

"So, you had something you wanted to say to me?" reminded Winry, causing Edward to blush.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure how to say this, so I'm just going to say it" he stammered.

"Yeah?"

"Well, Win, I, I love you."

Winry almost started to laugh, thinking this was some kind of joke, but it wasn't. She could almost see the honesty pouring from his eyes. "Ed, I'm flattered…" she started, but her words were stopped in her throat as Ed's lips touched hers. "Her heart was doing back flips as she thought "he's actually kissing me! I can't believe it!"

But it was over almost as quickly as it started. He pulled away and pulled his as of yet un-noticed arm from behind her back.

"Win, if you don't feel the same, I…" the confidence was once more apparent in his voice, although this time it was Winry's turn to stop him in his tracks. When they finally pulled apart, Winry said:

"Ed, I love you too."

They both sat there in a one-armed embrace for a few moments more before getting up. They both agreed that it was late and that they should both go to bed. As Winry closed the door behind her as she walked into her room. Her heart was still doing summersaults. As she got changed and got into bed, she wondered what was going through Edwards mind. She cursed the wall. It was the only thing separating them. With these thoughts running though her head, she slowly drifted off into a deep peaceful sleep.


	3. Shortfall

**Chapter 3 – Shortfall**

In the room next door, Ed was sleeping, although his sleep was far from peaceful. His night terrors had returned. He was walking through an empty expanse; there was no sky, only darkness. Everything was lit by an eerie glow, coming up from the mist covered floor. It seemed like he'd been walking for hours in his mind when a cloaked figure appeared in the distance. Even though the landscape seemed to extend on into infinity on every side, the figures foot steps echoed as if he was walking through a corridor. Ed tried to move out the way, but where ever he moved, the figure moved in front of him, so once more he was on a collision course. When he reached the figure, once more he tried to dart round him, but the man swung his fist at Edward. It was a lazy swing and he easily avoided it, returning the favour with his foot. The crack of the man's neck echoed as his hood fell onto his shoulders. It was Alphonse. Edward froze momentarily, giving the man time to knock Ed to the ground. As Edward looked up, the figure had changed into the figure of his father, Van Hoenhiem. As he stood up, he clasped his hand, performing a transmutation that he had performed many times before, turning his automail casing into a blade.

"Wrong form" smirked Edward.

He lunged at his fathers throat, but as he moved, the figure changed into that of Envy, his half brother, who caught the blade in his hand. It dug into the homunculus's right hand. But he just laughed.

"I'm you and you're me!" Laughed the homunculus.

Edward looked at his own flesh and blood hand, it was bleeding. Envy took his distraction as an opportunity to strike, almost knocking him off balance. But Ed retaliated, driving his blade deep into envy's throat. But just before his attack hit home, Envy made one last transformation. He transformed into Winry.

As the corpse hit the floor, Edward woke up, choking a screem. He sat bolt upright, breathing heavily, looking at his hand. Then he looked up at the wall where his hand had struck it.

"Why can't I sleep?" he asked himself.

In the end, he just resigned himself to lying there in the bed. It wasn't like he was going to get any more sleep.

Some time later, Winry woke to a start. There was no alarm, but she had been used to waking up early to do her work for so long, a day where there was no work to be done was welcomed. She tried to get back to sleep, but failed. So she got up and trudged downstairs into the kitchen to put some coffee on.

As she walked past Ed's room, she noticed the door was slightly ajar. It was almost as if he wanted her to come in. And how tempting that was, just to spend a few hours snuggled up to his chest. She shook her head clear of such thoughts; she was going to let him make the first move. She almost tripped down the stairs and spent almost twenty minutes searching for the coffee that was sat next to the coffee machine. This was really shaking her up.

Half an hour later, Edward was lying in bed, he'd just woken up. Nearly all night he'd been fighting off dreams of Winry. And the previous evening, when he'd kissed her, he had to stop himself from kissing her senseless. But no-matter how much he wanted her, he didn't want to rush things and lose her.

Winry watched over her coffee mug as Edward dragged himself down the stairs and she had to stifle a laugh, she had never known anyone else who could have eleven hours of sleep and still look like they had only just gone to bed. Unfortunately, he heard the giggle and glared. It wasn't an evil glare, but a how-can-you-be-so-full-of-energy-this-early-in-the-morning glare. He walked into the kitchen and poured himself a mug, no, mug is too small a word to describe the vessel that Edward was emptying the pot into. He poured himself a _jug_ of coffee before sitting down beside her. That in it's self was strange as he usually sat at the opposite end of a table to anyone else sitting at it, and in the case of Roy Mustang, he liked to sit in the next available universe.

"Ed?" she asked, her voice wavering a bit.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Did you mean what you said last night?"

There was a long pause as Edward thought, not of his answer, but of the best way to say it. In the end, he just said calmly:  
"Yeah, yeah I did."

Winry put her hand on the table and Edward held it, they both smiled. After several attempts to steal her toast, he finally got up to make himself some. She watched him go through the same process with the bread as she had done with the coffee and couldn't help but laugh. Several pieces of burned toast later; and he had sat down with something edible. The both sat there, just eating and drinking without saying a word. It was almost as if all the words had been said, but in reality it was far from it. Edward was thinking, not of anything in particular, just thinking. Winry on the other hand was worried. She remembered back a week or so to when Alphonse made a trip back to the Rockabell household.

She had been in the workshop when he arrived, working on a prototype arm for a customer. When she heard footsteps coming up the path, she dropped the tool she was holding and rushed outside, only to stop at the door when she saw one person, not two.

"Edward..." She muttered to herself.

"Winry?" Shouted Alphonse, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, just expecting Edward to be with you." She shouted back. "He's gotten himself in trouble hasn't he?" There was a trace of pain in her voice.

"Sort of, I'll tell you inside." Alphonse said as he walked up to Winry.

A few moments later, they were both sat at the kitchen table with coffee as Alphonse explained what had happened.

"So now he's in hospital." Finished Alphonse. "And I came back so you wouldn't kill him." He smiled an innocent smile.

Winry however wasn't so hopeful. With a little too much worry in her voice for a friend, she asked "so is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be all right." Alphonse said. "He'll be all right."

**A.N.**  
Sorry for the lack of updates, I really have no excuse. Hopefully, I will be updating more often now.


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